Mizvot in the Aleppo Cemetery between the years 1916-1957
This historical document presents a list of deceased individuals and burial (mitzvot) dates in the ancient cemetery of the city of Aleppo, covering the years 1916-1957. The significant value of this document lies in its authenticity and uniqueness, making it one of the most important surviving documents to date. The cemetery registry book was written in Aleppo and brought to Israel by Rabbi Shaul (Shachod) Mazrab, of blessed memory, who served as a volunteer emissary at the Jewish cemetery in Aleppo. He took responsibility for preserving and systematically updating the registry. Upon his aliyah with his family to Israel in December 1956, Rabbi Shaul took the cemetery registry with him and kept it at his home throughout the years. Occasionally, he would add handwritten updates regarding the dates of death of Aleppo natives residing in Israel. However, there are no additional updates or entries regarding those buried in Aleppo after 1956. Following the passing of Rabbi Shaul Z”L (Shachud) in the spring of 1988, and the passing of his wife, Simcha Z”L, approximately ten years later, the Mazrab family transferred the book to Attorney Abraham Hilleli Z”L from Haifa. Through him, a copy of the book reached the Aleppo Jews Heritage Center. We are grateful to the Mazrab family – Eli, Yom-Tov, Abraham, Baruch, and Yitzhak Mazrab – for donating this valuable and important document, and to Attorney Abraham Hilleli Z”L for facilitating its publication on the website. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Daniel Binker Dwaik (from Argentina) for translating the list of the deceased from “Nus Kalam” (half cursive) into Hebrew. Here, you can view images of several gravestones from the Aleppo cemetery, photographed in 2008. You can search for names of the deceased using the following search engine and view the original page.
